Why Habitat is Needed

 

The world is experiencing a global housing crisis.

  • About 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing and 100 million are homeless.(1)
  • Each week, more than 1 million people are born in, or move to, cities in the developing world.(2)
  • One billion people (32 percent of the global urban population) live in urban slums.
  • If no serious action were taken, the number of slum dwellers worldwide would increase over the next 30 years to nearly 2 billion.(3)

In the United States alone, 95 million people have housing problems. 
Including payments too large a percentage of their income, overcrowding, poor quality shelter and homelessness.(4) 

Clean, decent, and stable housing provides more than just a roof over someone’s head.

  • Stability for families and children.
  • Sense of dignity and pride.
  • Health, physical safety, and security.
  • Increase of educational and job prospects.

The transformational ability of good housing.

  • Clean, warm housing is essential for prevention and care of diseases of poverty like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrhea, and malaria.(5)
  • Children under five in Malawi living in Habitat for Humanity houses have 44 percent less malaria, respiratory or gastrointestinal diseases compared to children living in traditional houses.(6)

Housing is a great means of wealth creation.

  • Home ownership is a form of wealth accumulation through equity and forced savings from mortgage repayment.(7)
  • Housing construction creates job opportunities for migrants to cities and stimulates the creation of small business.
  • The process of securing land tenure helps to increase access to credit.(8)

Good housing attracts economic investment and development.

  • Contributes to thriving school systems and community organizations.
  • A catalyst for civic activism and a stimulus for community-based organizations.
  • Safe homes and neighborhoods help to build social stability and security.(9)

Housing must become a priority

  • The percentage of people without access to decent, stable housing is rising.
  • Increasing the housing supply across the globe is essential.
  • Adequate housing is vitally important to the health of the world’s economies, communities, and populations.
  • If we are to succeed in the fight against poverty, we must support the expansion of housing both as policy and as practice.